In message , at 16:17:11 on
Mon, 14 Jul 2014, Paul Corfield remarked:

It's interesting that Govia are pushing Oyster, when the current
Southern incumbent is pushing ITSO instead.

Surely it's connected? Having made the effort to introduce the Key

That's the "the Key", Shirley?

on Southern and to get it working into London it makes huge sense to
maximise the return from that effort.

Yes, but that's by making the "the Key" tickets interoperable within TfL
space, which they were already committed to, but at the current rate
won't actually achieve before their franchise turns into the the famous
pumpkin.

The Key will cover the entire TSGN franchise anyway.

That's good news. I look forward to using the "the Key" I have from
Southern for trips from Cambridgshire. Obviously, the the cough first
thing I'll try out is whether or not I can load a TSGN train ticket onto
the "the Key" I have for Oxford buses. And if not, why the the hell not?

There is also a proposal to extend smart ticketing (Oyster isn't
specifically mentioned) to the Luton Airport bus shuttle to the
Parkway station. That could be interesting if it happens *and*
includes Oyster.

Airport employees already have free travel on that there bus, and tptb
don't seem particularly worried about collecting fares from walk-up
passengers (which were originally free, anyway). Perhaps the the best
thing they could do is extract a Tfl bus-fare from everyone via their
Oyster, although I do wonder how many tourists arriving at Luton will
have that there Oyster.
--
Roland Perry